Fast 50: Content is King

Web content is still the top choice in the long list of marketing strategies used by businesses to increase conversions and build customer relationships. 90 percent of enterprises use content marketing and 60 percent of them plan to invest more in it*. Therefore, it's no surprise that at Freelancer.com, content-related projects took the spotlight, according to the Freelancer Fast 50 report for the first quarter of 2015.

“The Freelancer Fast 50 data is the leading forward indicator of trends in online jobs related to industries, technologies, products, and companies”, said Chief Executive Matt Barrie. Data scientists on Freelancer reviewed a record of 322,284 good** jobs (up 7.2 percent from 300,416 jobs in Q4, 2014) and analyzed the trends of the jobs performed on the platform.

Great content helped a lot of businesses attract traffic and gain visibility this quarter. Writers are in demand after an increase in projects posted for long-form content: eBook Writing is up 43 percent to 1,943 jobs, Creative Writing is up 41 percent to 1,877 jobs, Content Writing is up nearly 26 percent to 7,650 jobs and Ghostwriting is up 23 percent to 8,514 jobs.

Shorter pieces such as copywriting, email marketing, campaigns, and websites weren't left behind, with a 15 percent increase to 10,418 jobs. Also accompanying the rise in content-related jobs is the increase of proofreading jobs, up 20 percent to 3,351 jobs, as copywriters and content producers outsourced the task of proofreading their work.

The rise of content jobs on the platform may be a result of Facebook's algorithm change. Despite Facebook reporting 1.39 billion monthly active users (source: Facebook), Facebook Marketing is down by over 2 percent (at 8,468 jobs). Social Media Marketing (up 8 percent at 4,650 jobs) and Social Networking (up 5 percent at 5,262 jobs) rose but at a slower pace compared to previous quarters.

Similar platforms such as Pinterest and Twitter also did not fare well this quarter. Last year's surge in Pinterest projects quieted down as it only increased by 6 percent (at 1,745 jobs) and Twitter barely increased by over 1 percent (at 3,766 jobs from 3,701 last quarter).

Video content production including Video Editing (up 15 percent at 1,239 jobs) and Video Services (up 7 percent at 2,956 jobs), as well as YouTube jobs (up 7 percent at 2,956 jobs), gained traction this quarter. We can expect to see video-related jobs grow throughout 2015.

More innovative thinkers also hired freelancers with deep expertise across a number of advanced areas. Projects in Renewable Energy Design, Quantum Physics, Face Recognition, Drones, Pattern Matching, Machine Learning, Cryptography and Nanotechnology all appeared on Freelancer.com.

To learn more about this quarter's top performing jobs, read the full Freelancer Fast 50 report here.

*http://postcron.com/en/blog/social-media-trends-2014/** "Good" jobs are those which have been filtered for spam, advertising, self-promotion, reposts, or that are otherwise unlikely to be filled.